What do I need?

[Shieldwolf]

my 4 player cab computer stuff.

I'll be running my  
mame,daphne emus and probably and old console or two on Xp.

80 gig hard drive
ethernet card
500+ ddr ram (is this overkill)
some sound card 4.1 to 5.1
I'm planning on using a tv instead of a monitor (unless you guys think a montior is a lot better), in which case an ATI card (which model should i get)
27 inch tv ( anyone have favorite?)
A Really good and cheap set of speakers (any suggestions)
dvd rom and floppy drive.

Any suggestions on how to keep it cool. i know i can build my computer without a case, but I'm hesitant to do that.

Am I missing anything?

[mccall]

The ram isn't overkill if you are running XP. You don't need the floppy drive. You didn't say why you needed the ethernet card, but it's obviously not a necessity. I'm guessing the DVD drive is for Dragon's Lair? I've never used Daphne but couldn't you just place an image on the hard drive? With 80 gigs you'll have the space.

I have Logitech Z340s and love them. It's a 2.1 setup though.

[Shieldwolf]

Well I don't need a floppy u are right. The ethernet card is so I can connect and update from time to time. Dvd rom is or cdrom, I guess I don't need it, but in case I wanted to load something from a cd or other.

[Mike]

The ram isn't overkill if you are running XP. You don't need the floppy drive. You didn't say why you needed the ethernet card, but it's obviously not a necessity. I'm guessing the DVD drive is for Dragon's Lair? I've never used Daphne but couldn't you just place an image on the hard drive? With 80 gigs you'll have the space.

I have Logitech Z340s and love them. It's a 2.1 setup though.

I'd say the nic card is a necessity it's really the only way to get stuff on there unless you like burning a ton of cds. I'd also put the floppy in because you can live without a floppy until the one time you need it. Then you think to yourself i spent a $1000 on this computer but i was too cheap to buy an $8 floppy drive. 512 of ram is about right. I used a pc monitor in my cab because it was easy and i can't really tell the difference. but if you want 27" I'd go with which is cheaper at the time an arcade monitor or tv. I have the 3 piece creative speakers in my cab and they sound great. They sounded pretty good when i used them with my desktop, they sound awesome in the cabinet. They usually cost around $29 for the set.

[Shieldwolf]

 I don't want to spend 1000 on a computer I should be able to do it for a lot less

I have xp already

I don't need
keyboard
monitor
mouse
modem

I need
a good cheap sound card
good cheap ati video card
cdrom
ethernet card
floppy
80 gig  hard dirve
ram 512 megs of ddram
speakers
I think I could get that for less than 600

[AlanS17]

You can do that for way less than $600. Do you need a case for the computer? Do you already have a motherboard and processor?

[Shieldwolf]

no mother board
no processor sorry

I'm really worried about not having a case for the simple fact that I will have to move this cab out some day

[AlanS17]

If you're starting from scratch and want something cheap, check the AMD offerings from ezbpc on Ebay. They seem like a good starting point. They're barebones systems, but good prices.

[meta87]

Also, I find shuttle makes good cheap motherboards.

I saw one, can't remember the model but it had 8x agp slot and supported up to a p4 2.4 cpu for only 60 bucks. Seemed like a good deal.

Good luck

[Apollo]

Why do you need a CD ROM drive?
That's just extra expense if you ask me.
Is this your only computer? If not just grab yourself a USB drive and transfer new files on to your MAME computer like that. It's just drag and drop and it means you can download big files using ADSL or broadband on another computer on to your USB drive and then Bob's your uncle.

Doesn't anyone else do this?

[mccall]

I'd say the nic card is a necessity it's really the only way to get stuff on there unless you like burning a ton of cds. I'd also put the floppy in because you can live without a floppy until the one time you need it. Then you think to yourself i spent a $1000 on this computer but i was too cheap to buy an $8 floppy drive.

Actually a NIC is not a necessity, and neither is a floppy or CD drive. Plenty of people run computers in their cabs without them.

In my opinion the easiest way to upgrade/update, especially when you don't have a box in your cab, is to have your hard drive in a removable caddy. Pull the tray, put in main box, upgrade/update, place back in cab. He already has another computer (hence the NIC) and removable trays and caddies are very cheap. You can also do it without the caddy, as many do, but I prefer the caddy as I find it gives a good mounting platform as well as giving the hard drive some (limited) protection from dirt and such.

[u_rebelscum]

Actually a NIC is not a necessity, and neither is a floppy or CD drive. Plenty of people run computers in their cabs without them.

Personally, I'd either get a nic or a motherboard with network included onboard.  Then share the cab's harddrive, so you can drag and drop upgrades from the other computer, no need to physically move any CDs or HDs.  *shrug*

As for floppy & CD/DVD drive, I'd get one or the other, just for the one in a thousand chance I couldn't boot from the HD at some point.  And since you're going to do daphne anyway, DVD is a good choice instead of a plain CDrom, if you have the original stuff on DVD.

I wouldn't need any of these, but they would keep things easier and quicker.

In my opinion the easiest way to upgrade/update, especially when you don't have a box in your cab, is to have your hard drive in a removable caddy. Pull the tray, put in main box, upgrade/update, place back in cab. He already has another computer (hence the NIC) and removable trays and caddies are very cheap. You can also do it without the caddy, as many do, but I prefer the caddy as I find it gives a good mounting platform as well as giving the hard drive some (limited) protection from dirt and such.

IMO, the only thing this would make easier would be updating the OS, and that only if both machines were identical so I could boot on the portable HD on the desktop computer.

Otherwise I think a local network would be faster and easier.  And less chance of dropping the HD and breaking it (I'm accident prone).

[paigeoliver]

Hee hee. You don't even NEED a hard drive. I recall seeing a bootable CDROM Mame setup in the past, and someout out there has a Ms. Pac-Mame machine that only has one drive, a floppy drive. (I think he called the project Ms. Stacy, or something like that).

[Mike]

I'd say the nic card is a necessity it's really the only way to get stuff on there unless you like burning a ton of cds. I'd also put the floppy in because you can live without a floppy until the one time you need it. Then you think to yourself i spent a $1000 on this computer but i was too cheap to buy an $8 floppy drive.

Actually a NIC is not a necessity, and neither is a floppy or CD drive. Plenty of people run computers in their cabs without them.

In my opinion the easiest way to upgrade/update, especially when you don't have a box in your cab, is to have your hard drive in a removable caddy. Pull the tray, put in main box, upgrade/update, place back in cab. He already has another computer (hence the NIC) and removable trays and caddies are very cheap. You can also do it without the caddy, as many do, but I prefer the caddy as I find it gives a good mounting platform as well as giving the hard drive some (limited) protection from dirt and such.

2 removable caddy's are gonna cost you $20 while a nic costs you $10. So you'd rather spend double the money and make it harder to do. Really if you can't afford to spend $10 on a nic aren't you in the wrong hobby anyways.

From a local place where I live(www.emicrox.com) I just got an Asus mobo(with sony bios) $45 integrated nic and sound, Celeron 1.7ghz $60, 256mb ddr $30, 80gb harddrive $80, cdrom $20, floppy $8, ATI rage 128 $24, fans $4 and a case $25. $296 total for a full computer, it will cost you more if you order from them because I have a corporate account there but if you go to pricewatch you should be able to get similar or better prices. This isn't used in my mame cabinet it's for my mom's birthday but I think it's still a good deal and powerful enough to play most games in mame.

[meta87]

Another interesting way (but probably not needed) is to by a flashcard converter thingy (can't remember the name) which will make a flashcard into a hardrive. They cost about 15 dollars on ebay. You can then just remove it and plug it into a usb port on another computer to upgrade.

[jakejake28]

Hee hee. You don't even NEED a hard drive. I recall seeing a bootable CDROM Mame setup in the past, and someout out there has a Ms. Pac-Mame machine that only has one drive, a floppy drive. (I think he called the project Ms. Stacy, or something like that).

you could skip on a hard drive and just make a ton of advanceCD disks. not the easiest idea, kind of annoying. just an idea

[bionicbadger]

I would keep the dvd rom and floppy (I only needed a floopy once for my cab and didnt have one, so had to rip one out of another computer to use for 5 minutes, but i wish woulda spent the $8-10 for one).

You might be able to get away with a cheaper sound card.  Do you plan on using more than 2 speakers or 2 + a sub?  Many older games are mono.

You can get a cheap ATI card off ebay, I paid $6 for mine (8MB card with s-video out) and it works great.  You dont need anything fancy.

Speakers again, look for used stuff, ebay has lots, or garage sales.  Ditto for ethernet cards.

You didnt say if you needed a motherboard/processor or not.  If you do, there are some good deals for cheap available if you keep your eyes open.  Last week Fry's had a sale on an ECS motherboard(K7S5A)& Athlon 2000+ package for $69.  Not the best/most modern setup, but more than adequate for a mame cabinet, and cheap.

As for cooling, just make sure your cabinet has adequate venting and you should be ok.  My cabinet is in my basement which is pretty cool, so I dont need a fan inside my cabinet, it never gets that warm.  If you need a fan for airflow, consider using 12"+ oscilating fan or desk fan from wal-mart or someplace inside your cabinet.   They are super cheap, quiet, and move alot of air.  You can set them to not oscilate and just blow where you want.  No one will see it since its hidden in your cabinet.

27" TV, I have a toshiba as do some other people here.  Toshiba has some nice features, small case for a 27", remembers power state and settings when unplugged (so you can leave it on and set to s-video and unplug/shut off power bar and then plug in again and it turns on set to s-video).  I got mine used, look around, pawn shops, garage sales, moving sales, local paper or forsale newsgroups.

Good luck.

[mccall]

2 removable caddy's are gonna cost you $20 while a nic costs you $10. So you'd rather spend double the money and make it harder to do. Really if you can't afford to spend $10 on a nic aren't you in the wrong hobby anyways.


The OP asked what he NEEDED. Does he need a NIC? No. Might it make things easier for him? Maybe, if he has the other required components and the skill set to utilize them properly.

Plenty of people run their cabs without attaching them to a network. The cost of the NIC has nothing to do with it. I was telling him how I handled not having a floppy, CD drive, NIC, and DVD - all things he listed.

[pmc]

I built a general purpose box (not for a cabinet) with good name-brand parts from www.newegg.com last fall. $400 and more than what you need for MAME. Newegg is a great company and really easy to do business with.

I'll likely revamp my cab at some point and build a new PC specifically for that purpose -- and therefore use parts that specifically meet the purpose and are OEM/off-brand because it's not for a daily-use machine. Here's what I'd consider doing if I was starting from scratch today (and I do realize this is a bit off-topic):

This stuff is all new and ships FedEx. No inflated eBay shipping and handling...

• Cheap AMD Athlon mobo (start at $44). Consider a micro-ATX Shuttle mobo because you can buy a shoe-box sized case for it and skip the mid-tower sized PCs. Also consider integrated sound so you don't have to buy a soundcard.
• PCI Soundcard. $8. http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProduct.asp?description=29-117-104&depa=1
• 8MB ATI AGP Video card. Get the refurb one for $9! http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProduct.asp?description=14-102-178&depa=1 . Of course if you have a TV you'll need to upgrade an an S-Video out card.
• CPU (Athlon XP at 1.1GHz is $33). http://www.newegg.com/app/listProduct.asp?submit=list&catalog=343&DEPA=1&sortby=11&order=0 . You can also go with a Duron or Celeron to value engineer things further but make sure your mobo is made for that CPU. I find that for the money, Althlon XP chips are great performers, and overclock easily if you want to.
• Gut another box for a case/power supply, otherwise, you can get a rock-bottom ATX case with a 300W power supply for $22 (Dynapower Model# METIS CS-I3ALB.701 (Light-Blue). You can even leave the case behind and flush-mount everything to a piece of plywood in the cabinet. Spend the extra money on the power supply. Alternately, buy a micro-ATX case. Just make sure your power supply will provide enough for the CPU.
• 52X CDROM drive ($16). http://www.newegg.com/app/ListProduct.asp?DEPA=1&submit=list&catalog=55&description=&sortby=22&order=1 . Easiest way to manage the machine (OS updates, additional software (e.g., OptiPac s/w)) but not entirely necessary.
• WiFi PCI NIC. If you have a WiFi (802.11b) network in your house, $45. Otherwise, get a $5 10/100 wired NIC at Best Buy or Circuit City or eBay or wherever. High-speed Internet is great to be able to transfer files to the PC and also read this board right from the cab. OK. Newegg has them too. $5. http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProduct.asp?description=33-128-001&depa=1
• 40g HD. $50. http://www.newegg.com/app/ListProduct.asp?DEPA=1&submit=list&catalog=14&description=&sortby=22&order=0
• 256MB RAM. $36. http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProduct.asp?description=20-150-532&depa=1 (2x128MB). I never used anything but Crucial, but it's not like I need to overclock here.
• No floppy. You'll likly never use it. But you can buy a new one for $10 if you really want an emergency boot disk or something like that.
• Steal the mouse and keyboard from another machine or buy a set from newegg for $10. http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProduct.asp?description=23-131-108&depa=1

OK.... how'd I do? $233 including the case, 10/100 NIC, mouse, and keyboard. Plus shipping (newegg ships some stuff for free). Maybe $250 if you are lucky. You might be able to get close buying from Tiger Direct or another outfit like that, but beware of some of those Internet vendors.

Now, I might consider upgrading that video card and soundcard a tiny bit, and getting name-brand RAM and/or going to 512MB, but it's all gravy...

Good luck.